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Ashes of Victory
Ashes of Victory is the ninth book of David Weber's series of novels and short stories chronicling the adventures of Honor Harrington. It was first published in 2000. The book's plot begins only hours after the end of the previous novel, Echoes of Honor. Timeframe: December 1913 PD – May 1915 PD Cover Summary : The People's Republic of Haven made a tiny mistake when it announced the execution of Honor Harrington. It seemed safe enough. After all, they knew she was already dead. : Unfortunately, they were wrong. Now Honor has escaped from the prison planet called Hell and returned to the Manticoran Alliance with a few friends. Almost half of a million of them, to be precise...including some who know what really happened when the Committee of Public Safety seized power in the PRH. '' : ''Honor's return from the dead comes at a critical time, providing a huge, much-needed lift for the Allies' morale, for the war is rapidly entering a decisive phase. Both sides believe victory lies within their grasp at last, but dangers no one could foresee await them both. : New weapons, new strategies, new tactics, spies, diplomacy, and assassination...All are coming into deadly focus, and Honor Harrington, the woman the newsies call "the Salamander", once more finds herself at the heart of them all. : But this time, the furnace may be too furious for even a salamander to survive. Plot Admiral Honor Harrington and her "Elysian Space Navy" arrive in the Trevor's Star System, where Honor is greeted by Admiral White Haven, whose feelings for her are as strong as ever. Honor then makes her way back to Manticore, only to discover that she was believed dead, that her mother has given birth to twins (partly to satisfy the Graysons' need for an heir to Harrington Steading), her cousin Devon has inherited her Manticoran title, and that the extent of her injuries will prevent her from returning to active naval duty for a couple of years, since she needs reconstructive surgery. Meanwhile, Horace Harkness is knighted and promoted to Chief Warrant Officer for freeing Harrington and her crew from [[PNS Tepes|PNS Tepes]]. To put Honor to good use, the Royal Manticoran Navy promotes her to Admiral and places her at the Royal Manticoran Naval Academy on Saganami Island to teach future generations of naval officers. Queen Elizabeth III elevates Honor to Duchess Harrington. Meanwhile, Honor helps to prove that treecats are as intelligent as humans, and eventually helps to develop an easy way to understand sign language, making full communication between the two species possible. After its last daring attacks, the People's Republic of Haven seems to have the initiative in the war. However, Manticore has a trump card that has the potential to end the war, in the form of devastatingly effective new technology and weapons fully integrated into a new massive heavy assault force known as Eighth Fleet. The Star Kingdom's navy bides time, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Upon learning of a conspiracy to remove her, the ambitious Admiral McQueen stages a coup that succeeds in killing Rob S. Pierre and almost all the members of the Committee of Public Safety, except for Oscar Saint-Just, who manages to crush the coup by detonating a nuclear device secretly hidden under the Octagon. With the Committee and the military High Command in ruins, Saint-Just becomes the dictator of the People's Republic, and orders Admiral Thomas Theisman to take over the Capital Fleet guarding Haven. This proves to be an eventually fatal miscalculation: while Saint-Just believes Theisman to be apolitical and trustworthy, Theisman is in fact plotting a coup of his own, with the secret help of the People's Commissioner Saint-Just has assigned to him. Finally, Admiral White Haven launches Operation Buttercup. Under his command, Eighth Fleet begins a lightning offensive deep into Havenite territory. The new technology developed by Manticore in the prelude to Buttercup allows the fleet to quickly demolish all resistance, and in a matter of months Manticore becomes poised to invade the Haven System itself. In desperation, Saint-Just attempts to assassinate the Manticoran Alliance leadership. Masadan terrorists in his service succeed in killing Manticoran Prime Minister Allen Summervale along with several major figures of the Manticoran and Grayson governments, despite the efforts of Honor Harrington. Fortunately, Honor's actions save Queen Elizabeth and Protector Benjamin IX of Grayson from dying in the same attack. Honor's old enemy, Samuel Mueller, who made the attack possible, is impeached and executed for treason. On Manticore, Cromarty's death opens an opportunity for former opposition factions led by Baron High Ridge to seize political control, much to the frustration of Queen Elizabeth. Saint-Just proposes an immediate cease-fire between Manticore and Haven. This is hastily accepted by the new High Ridge government, despite the fact that Eighth Fleet is poised to invade Haven and force an unconditional surrender. High Ridge and his co-partisans in the military come to believe (wrongly) that Haven has been defeated for good, and that further violence is not necessary: the First Havenite-Manticoran War comes to an end. Now secure from the possibility of a Manticoran attack, Saint-Just turns to internal matters and the consolidation of his grip on power. He orders the arrest of Admirals Lester Tourville and Javier Giscard, whom he sees as political dissidents. In response, Admiral Theisman launches his coup in order to restore Haven's original constitution. Upon being cornered by Theisman and his forces in his office, Saint-Just taunts them about giving him another of the People's Republic's show trials. Theisman answers that they have already had enough of these; he points his pulser at Saint-Just's face and says: "Goodbye, Citizen Chairman." References Characters Hamish Alexander | William Alexander | Ascencio | Harriet Benson | Ellen Bhadresa | Gavin Bledsoe | Crawford Buckeridge | Warner Caslet | Clements | Carson Clinkscales | Randal Donizetti | Queen Elizabeth III | Sue Fawcett | Garrison | Gillingham | Gifford | Javier Giscard | Cynthia Gonsalves | John Groenewold | Horace Harkness | Honor Harrington | Devon Harrington | Lawrence Hodges | Jonathan Kershaw | Winston Kershaw | Theodosia Kuzak | Andrew LaFollet | Frederick Malone | Samuel Mueller | Samantha | Solomon Marchant | Jasper Mayhew | Alistair McKeon | Esther McQueen | Francis Ney | Nimitz | Susan Phillips | Fugimori Okamura | Nikola Pakovic | Ron Porter | Jesus Ramirez | Manuel Ramirez | Nathan Robards | Anna Ryan | Oscar Saint-Just | Sampson | Allen Summervale | Thomas Theisman | Lester Tourville | Adam Towson | Prescott Tremaine | Aristides Trikoupis | Mirdula Trikoupis | Marisa Turner | Alfredo Yu Starships * [[HMS Amphitrite|HMS Amphitrite]] | [[HMS Nestor|HMS Nestor]] * [[ENS Ares|ENS Ares]] | [[ENS Huan-Ti|ENS Huan-Ti]] | [[ENS Ishtar|ENS Ishtar]] Stations Planets *Enki *Grayson *Manticore Nations * People's Republic of Haven * Protectorate of Grayson * Star Kingdom of Manticore Other Cascabel System | Christmas | Elric System | Elysian Space Navy | Operation Hassan | Information Control Act | Liberty Crossing | Manticoran near-jay | Battle of Midway | Pseudogrizzly | psych rock | Royal Manticoran Marine Corps | Royal Manticoran Naval Academy | Royal Manticoran Navy | Operation Scylla | Sphinxian koi | State Security Naval Forces | Subversive Agitator Statutes | Duchy of Waltham | Duchy of Winton-Serisburg External links * [http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/01-HonorverseCD/HonorverseCD/Ashes%20of%20Victory/index.htm Ashes of Victory] in the Baen Free Library * ''Ashes of Victory'' on Wikipedia Category:Honorverse material